The tastiest challenge on the planet the SRA 2019

The Tastiest
Challenge
on the Planet
https://thesra.org/thetastiestchallenge/

FOODWASTEPLASTICMEATCONCLUSIONTHEREPORT
3
The Tastiest Challenge on the Planet
2
• UK named 24th in global
food sustainability
league table compiled by
Economist Intelligence
Unit and the Barilla
Centre for Food and
Nutrition Foundation
• World Resources Institute
launches Cool Food
Pledge2
• UK Government announces
ban on plastic straws and
stirrers
• IPCC3
publishes report calling
for urgent action to keep
temperature rise below 1.5C
• Food Made Good Awards
recognise the UK’s leading
sustainable foodservice
businesses
3
SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER NOVEMBER
2018
EVENTS THAT SHAPED THE YEAR
Sections of the foodservice sector have
woken up to the realisation that what we
grow, rear, farm, cook and eat has a massive
impact on the planet. As an industry with
higher carbon emissions than Costa Rica, it’s
not before time.
When thinking about the impact humans
have on the environment, people regularly
think about the car they drive or the plane
they take, or maybe the energy they use to
heat a home. Yet the biggest single impact is
caused by the food we eat.
The whole sector needs to act now to
avert a climate catastrophe. By focusing on
action, operators can answer consumers’
desire for more sustainable menus while
also significantly reducing their emissions.
The time is right to work even more closely
as a group of like-minded businesses to
achieve more change. We are in a unique
moment in history. The case for action has
never been stronger; the messages on what
actions to take have never been clearer; and
diners have never been so keen to embrace
change, behaving more like citizens and less
like consumers. Our combined buying power,
commitment to greater resource efficiency
and enormous influence have staggering
potential.
THE SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANT
ASSOCIATION IS CALLING ON THE
WHOLE FOODSERVICE SECTOR
TO TAKE ON THE TASTIEST
CHALLENGE ON THE PLANET.
THE TASTIEST CHALLENGE
• Dozens of businesses ditch
plastic straws in response to
Blue Planet II
• Sign-ups to Veganuary
increased by 183% to
168,000
• UK Government publishes
25 Year Environment Plan
with a vision to improve UK
resource efficiency
• 57 of the world’s largest
investors call on global
food brands to move
away from reliance on
animal proteins
• SRA launches One Planet
Plate campaign
• WRAP launches Plastic
Pact1
• Costa pledges to recycle
half a billion cups
• Just Eat announces
discounts on low carbon
delivery vehicles for
restaurant partners
• Oxford University
publishes report
recommending reducing
meat and dairy as most
effective way to reduce
impact on planet
• SRA launches Unwrapping
Plastic toolkit
• SRA helps Shambala
become the first major
UK festival to offer a
reusable plate service
• McDonald’s and Starbucks
partner on NextGen Cup
Consortium to create
recyclable, compostable
cup globally
• Government publishes
Resources and Waste
Strategy4
including
plans for bottle return
scheme and key waste
measurement targets
JUNE
AUGUSTJULY
DECEMBER
JANUARY
APRIL
FEBRUARY
MAY
MARCH
THAT MEANS EVERY FOODSERVICE BUSINESS IN THE UK ACCEPTING OUR
CHALLENGE TO IMPLEMENT AND ACHIEVE THE TARGETS OUTLINED IN THIS
REPORT: TO REDUCE THE IMPACT OF THE MEALS THEY SERVE BY REDUCING
THE VOLUME OF MEAT ON THE MENU, FOOD IN THE BIN AND SINGLE-USE
PLASTIC AND PACKAGING IN THEIR OPERATION. JOIN US!

5
4
OUR BOARD
5
In addition to this exclusive peak inside the
backdoor of more than 6,700 commercial
kitchens, we’ve also consulted the leaders
of some of Britain’s best-known and most
influential hospitality businesses as well as
a handful of influential chefs. How do they
see their role in fixing the food system?
Where does sustainability sit among their
priorities for the year ahead and what’s
holding them back from going further on
the big issues?
For the job of defining the actions we
need to take in the months and years
ahead, we’ve called on the expertise of a
Nobel Prize-winning climate scientist, two
food policy experts and an adviser to the
Government, who also happens to have
founded one of the most successful (and
sustainable) grab and go chains of the last
decade.
By bringing all of these elements together
our aim is to produce a report which not
only reveals the progress of the industry,
but also sets out the essential and urgent
sustainability priorities and reports
directly from the boardrooms and passes
of major companies and restaurants on the
preparedness of the industry to tackle this,
the tastiest challenge on the planet.
This is a report about the state of
sustainability in the UK foodservice sector
– a review of what operators have done
in 2018, an assessment of the pressing
challenges ahead, it’s preparedness for
tackling them, and an action plan for the
industry for 2019 and beyond.
A review of all the Food Made Good
Sustainability Ratings conducted in
2018 forms one key element of this report.
It provides a fascinating set of data across
all aspects of a foodservice business’
operation, such as the proportion of
meat vs veg dishes on menus, the most
widely used techniques to reduce food
waste and the percentage of operators
offering plastic bottles.
WHAT TO EXPECT FROM THIS REPORT
Since 2010, the SRA has been supporting the foodservice
sector to tackle the complex and urgent problems facing
the food system.
With more than 7,500 member sites, from fine-dining,
Michelin star restaurants to some of the UK’s largest
and most popular high street chains, independent gastro
pubs, workplace and university caterers, and cafés, we
work across the whole foodservice sector to accelerate
change towards a hospitality sector that is socially
progressive and environmentally restorative. Our Food
Made Good Sustainability Rating, the most holistic and
in-depth assessment of a business’ operation, provides a
unique, in-depth insight into both individual kitchens and
the wider progress of the sector.
SUSTAINABLE RESTAURANT ASSOCIATION
ANDREW STEPHEN
CONTRIBUTORS
JULIANE CAILLOUETTE NOBLE
YLVA JOHANNESSON
CEO Development Director
Head of Membership
JADE BRENNAN-SIEGERT
Head of Marketing
RAYMOND BLANC OBE
President
PRUE LEITH
Vice President
MARK SAINSBURY
AMELIA TWINE
GILES GIBBONS
JALE ERENTOKSIMON HEPPNER IQBAL WAHHAB

7
6
7
CONTRIBUTORS TO THIS REPORT
Karen Lynch has been
CEO of social enterprise,
Belu Water, since 2011,
having previously
pursued a corporate
career including Emap plc
and Barclays.
KAREN LYNCH
Emma Woods became
CEO of wagamama in
2018, having joined as
Chief Growth Officer in
2017. A marketeer by
trade, Emma has 30 years
of experience
in consumer and
restaurant sectors.
EMMA WOODS
CEO, Belu
Bill Toner has been CEO of
CH&Co Group since it was
formed by the merger of
HCM and CH&Co in 2015.
BILL TONER
Robin is responsible for
developing products and
services to ensure the 30,000+
UK restaurant partners get
even more out of their
relationship with Just Eat and
run their operations more
sustainably and efficiently
BUSINESS LEADERS
ROBIN CLARK
Director of Business
Partnerships and Restaurant
Services, Just Eat
John Hutson joined JD
Wetherspoon in 1991,
became Managing
Director in 1998 and has
been Chief Executive
since 2004.
JOHN HUTSON
Steve was appointed Chief
Executive Officer of the
Azzurri Group in January
2015, prior to which he was
Chief Executive Officer of
ASK Italian & Zizzi.
STEVE HOLMES
Chief Executive of
Azzurri Group
Jason Cotta is the Managing
Director of Costa Coffee
UK&I having joined the
company as Operations
Director in 2010.
JASON COTTA
Managing Director, Costa
Coffee UK & Ireland
CEO, JD Wetherspoon
CEO, CH&Co CEO, wagamama
Will leads the “Plating
Up Progress” project, a
collaboration between the
Food Foundation and Food
Climate Research Network.
WILL NICHOLSON
Professor Riccardo
Valentini won the 2007
Nobel Peace Prize for
his role as a member of
the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change
and is an advisory board
member of the Barilla
Centre for Food and
Nutrition.
PROFESSOR RICCARDO VALENTINI
Henry Dimbleby is co-
founder of Leon Restaurants,
and currently the lead
Non-Executive Director
at the Department for
Environment, Food, and
Rural Affairs.
Tim Lang has been
Professor of Food
Policy at City University
London Centre for Food
Policy since 2002 which
founded the Centre
in 1994.
HENRY DIMBLEBY PROFESSOR TIM LANG
ACADEMICS & POLICY MAKERS
Professor of Food Policy
at City, University of
London
Founder of Leon and a
Non-Exec Board Member
of Defra
The Food Climate
Research Network and
Food Foundation
Advisory Board Member
of the Barilla Centre for
Food and Nutrition
CHEFS
Raymond Blanc OBE, is
chef patron of Belmond Le
Manoir aux Quat’Saisons
and founder of Brasserie
Blanc restaurants, and has
been President of the SRA
since 2012.
RAYMOND BLANC OBE
After working at Clove Club,
Lyle’s and Brunswick House
Nicholas has run his own
restaurant, Salon, in Brixton
Market and in 2018 opened
Levan in Peckham.
NICK BALFE
Joel Braham is co-founder
of The Good Egg, with two
sites in north and central
London, and a menu focused
on high quality ingredients
sourced from sustainable
and ethical producers.
Skye opened Spring in
London’s Somerset House in
2014, following successful
spells at Petersham
Nurseries and the French
House.
JOEL BRAHAM
SKYE GYNGELL
Hugh is a multi-award-
winning writer and
broadcaster known for
his uncompromising
commitment to seasonal,
ethically produced food
and his concern for the
environment.
HUGH FEARNLEY-WHITTINGSTALL
Chef Director, Salon and
Levan
Founder, The Good Egg
Founder, Spring
Founder, River Cottage
Chef Patron of Belmond Le
Manoir aux Quat’Saisons
and President of the SRA

The Tastiest Challenge on the PlanetThe Tastiest Challenge on the Planet
98
9
But what does that mean for one restaurant
or a single pub? How can they aim to
set their ambition at a level that is both
achievable and meaningful?
What does ‘sustainable restaurant’ mean
in the context of insufficient incrementalism
across the whole system- when the sum
of our collective ambition still exceeds our
planetary limits?
For us, a truly sustainable food business
is one that has a restorative impact on the
land, and the people upon which it depends.
Restorative in this context means that
because the business operates, the land and
the people touched along the way (all the
way from famer and field to employee and
diner) are left in a better place because of
its existence.
Our panel of policy makers and academics
are unanimous in their belief that chefs and
foodservice businesses have a huge part
to play in influencing eating habits. They
are more important influencers than social
media, according to Professor Riccardo
Valentini, an advisory board member of
the Barilla Centre for Food and Nutrition.
The scale and urgency of the issues facing
the planet have never been writ larger. Sir
David Attenborough’s plastic plea in Blue
Planet II at the start of the year and the
chilling report from the United Nations’
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
at the end, were just two of the resounding
warnings sounded in 2018 stressing the
need for immediate action to keep the
planet’s temperature rise below 1.5C
. These,
plus a number of other major scientific
reports published in 2018, are stark
reminders that we all need to act, act now
and in doing so go further and faster than
we have ever done before.
The stars are aligning. Diners are looking for
a closer connection to their food and greater
purpose from the people providing it, and
say they are willing to pay for it.
Hospitality’s 3m strong workforce want
greater fulfilment in their roles that can
only come from making a better business in
the widest possible sense.
Influencers are vocally backing those who
are making these changes.
Government and policy are playing catch-
up fast, trying to implement ways to reward
those commercially for doing the right thing.
There’s never been a more important or
opportune time to be bold and take
big steps.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH: TIME TO BE RESTORATIVE
- Henry Dimbleby, Founder of Leon and
a Non-Exec Board Member of Defra
UK RESTAURANTS ALONE USE A TINY
AMOUNT OF GLOBAL RESOURCES, BUT
THEIR ABILITY TO MAKE THE WEATHER
AND INFLUENCE HOW PEOPLE FEEL
ABOUT SUSTAINABILITY AND FOOD IS
MASSIVE. AND WHAT WE DO, OTHERS
IN THE WORLD WILL FOLLOW.
sector’s disclosure around their climate
change policies and actions and there is
very little evidence of significant change
through menu redesign, marketing policy
or zero deforestation sourcing. This is
especially problematic in the high street/
casual dining sector.”
In the year ahead, we’ll be focussed on
three areas where the status quo of UK
hospitality is having the most negative
impact on the planet and on people. These
are also areas in which we see the greatest
potential for positive change within the
sector. Juliane Caillouette-Noble, SRA
Development Director, said:
IF EVERYONE MATCHED THE
PERFORMANCE OF THE BEST
OPERATORS IN THESE AREAS,
THEN WE COLLECTIVELY WILL
ACHIEVE HUGE GAINS FOR THE
SUSTAINABILITY OF THE SECTOR.
I LIKE TO THINK WE HAVE THE ABILITY, MORE THAN RESPONSIBILITY.
BUT WE ARE UNIQUELY PLACED TO SHAPE AND INFLUENCE FOOD
TRENDS GENERALLY. I LIKE TO THINK THAT USING LOCALLY SOURCED,
SEASONAL PRODUCTS FOR EXAMPLE, MIGHT ENCOURAGE MORE
PEOPLE TO DO SO AT HOME.
He added: “Restaurants are nowadays our
homes and even more our social spaces.
Any individual changes to lifestyle and
contributions towards a sustainable future
should start from here.”
The evidence suggests that the industry is
not yet fulfilling this role. Will Nicholson,
of the Food Climate Research Network
(FCRN) and Food Foundation, told us: “I have
carried out a review of the out of home
- Nick Balfe, Chef Director, Salon and Levan
THE MESSAGE IS CLEAR. UNLESS
WE FIX FOOD, WE CAN’T FIX
CLIMATE CHANGE.
When we face such huge
challenges in our food
system, we are forced to ask
the question: how much is
‘enough’ for a business to do
on sustainability?
NOW IS THE MOMENT.
ANDREW STEPHEN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE, SRA

1110
11
THE BIG ISSUES FOR 2019
Given the urgent and far-reaching action required
to meet the IPCC’s 1.5C
target, we asked our panel of
experts to present the industry with a 2019 to-do list,
identifying the three issues businesses need to tackle
head-on immediately. For all of them, one issue clearly
rose to the top.
In January 2019 The Eat-Lancet Commission of 37 food
experts from 16 countries published a report5
calling for
a shift towards a new planetary health diet advocating a
50% decrease in meat consumption globally in order to
avoid catastrophic damage to the planet.
SUSTAINABILITY IS NEVER A CASE
OF ‘JOB DONE’, OR A TOPIC
WE SHOULD BE COMPLACENT ABOUT.
- Bill Toner, CEO, CH&CO
THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE
BY FAR IS EDUCATING PEOPLE
THAT THEY CAN EAT WELL
AND EAT LESS MEAT.
EVERYTHING ELSE IS
SECONDARY.
Reducing meat and increasing the volume
of veg in menus stood out on our experts’
lists like surf ‘n’ turf in a vegan restaurant.
While scientists may differ in their advice
on exactly how much less meat we should
be eating, there is no questioning the need
to reduce consumption. This dietary change
ranks among the simplest, most impactful
and potentially most cost-effective actions
society can take to tackle climate change,
while also providing a range of additional
environmental and health benefits.
The importance our panel attached to
reducing meat consumption is best captured
by Henry Dimbleby when he said:
MEAT
- Henry Dimbleby, Founder of Leon
and a non-exec Director of Defra
FOOD WASTE
PAGES 18-23
PLASTIC
PAGES 24-29
MEAT
PAGES 11-17
THE VEG RESPONSIBILITY
IS THE BIGGEST ONE FOR
THE INDUSTRY RIGHT NOW,
- Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall,
Founder, River Cottage

=
60% OF TOTAL
FARMING
EMMISIONS
330M
TONNES
MEAT
+
812M
TONNES
DAIRY
1312
13
1
2
3
4
5
The 330m tonnes of meat and 812m tonnes of
dairy produced globally each year accounts for 60%
of farming’s greenhouse gas emissions and 16.5%
of total global emissions.6
If the 2bn top meat eaters cut their consumption by
just 40% it would free up land
the size of India.
Reducing meat and dairy consumption is the single
biggest way in which we can reduce our personal
environmental impact and improve our health.
A third of Britons have stopped eating meat or
reduced the amount they eat.7
29% of all evening meals eaten in the home in the
UK are now vegetable-based.8
29% OF UK
EVENING
MEALS ARE
VEG-BASED
1/3 OF
BRITONS
REDUCED
MEAT INTAKE
Veganuary 2018 demonstrated the ongoing
charge towards more plant-based eating
with the number of individuals participating
nearly tripling from 59,500 in 2017 to
168,500. With sign-ups reaching 250,000
in 2019, and almost a third (29%) of all
evening meals eaten at home containing no
meat, the appetite for veg-led dishes has all
the hallmarks of a longer-term shift than
a trend.
A recent Kantar report that found
millennials didn’t see being flexitarian as
cutting down but rather an exploration of
new food types. In Ireland, Just Eat reported
a 987% increase in demand for vegan
options in 2017 alone9
.
While the long-term trend line paints a
positive picture, we aren’t quite moving
far enough, fast enough. Sales of lamb and
pork were fractionally down according to
the figures from MCA Menu Tracker in the
UK in 2018, yet beef sales were static, with
continuing growth in burgers (up 0.5%).
Chicken sales were up 1%, and overall,
vegetarian dishes were up just 0.2%. Kantar
Worldpanel reports much more significant
trends in terms of the move away from
meat in consumers’ shopping baskets, where
the volume of beef sold is down 2%, lamb
8% and pork 2%, showing that consumers
are quicker to change their habits at home
than they are when out. Chicken remains
the outlier. Its 2% sales uplift sees it now
accounting for nearly half of all meat eaten
by volume in the UK.
Following the SRA’s 2017 campaign to
#FlipTheMenu, 2018 saw a significant shift
in restaurants across our network towards
more veg-led dishes, featuring recipes with
smaller, more sustainable portions of meat.
Hummus shawarma fried cauliflower
leaves & pickled beetroot stem
The Good Egg, One Planet Plate
Photography credit: Joanna Resiak
INSIGHTS FROM THE INDUSTRY
THERE ARE MILLIONS MORE
DINERS READY TO CHOOSE A
NON-MEAT OPTION, PROVIDED
THEY CAN FIND IT ON THE MENU,
AND IT LOOKS AND
TASTES GREAT.
- Jade Brennan-Siegert,
Head of Marketing, the SRA
FIVE REASONS WHY
FOOD SERVICE SHOULD DO MORE

1514
15
FOUR THINGS WE LEARNED
FROM THE FOOD MADE GOOD SUSTAINABILITY RATING 2018
1
2
3
4
Across the SRA network there was a 25% increase
in menus providing an equal balance of veg and
meat-led dishes, providing consumers with a
significantly increased range of choice.
This shift towards more plant-based dishes has
been most noticeable on the menus of larger
operators, increasing from less than a fifth in 2017
to more than half of the total dishes on their menus
in 2018 – giving 129m customers at 2,454 sites
across the country more than double the number of
veg-based dishes to choose from.
Giving veg-led dishes greater prominence on the
menu, an idea supported by research by the World
Resources Institute’s Better Buying Lab10
and the
London School of Economics, is among the most
popular techniques employed by SRA members to
increase sales. 62% reported doing this in 2018.
Introducing smaller portion sizes is becoming an
increasingly popular means of reducing customers’
meat consumption.
IN 2017 MORO
BUMPED THEIR
VEGETARIAN MEZZE
PLATTER TO THE TOP
OF LIST OF MAIN
COURSES AND SAW
SALES OF THE DISH
RISE BY 25%.
BY ADOPTING THIS METHOD AND EITHER SERVING A DISH
WITH A 25% SMALLER PIECE OF MEAT THAN BEFORE, OR
ADVISING CUSTOMERS TO CHOOSE A SMALLER PIECE OF
MEAT, RESTAURANTS LIKE STEAKHOUSE HAWKSMOOR
AND EDINBURGH LEGEND CAFE ST HONORÉ ARE MAKING A
MEANINGFUL DENT IN THEIR CARBON FOOTPRINT.
25%
INCREASE IN
BALANCED
MENUS
House-made basil cream cheese,
garden peas, stain-glass tomatoes,
poached free-range egg with herby rapeseed oil
The Pantry, One Planet Plate
All the operators we spoke to are taking
steps to beef up their veg offering. There
is general agreement though that meat
remains the most popular choice for
customers, and that it’s tough getting them
to change long-held eating habits and,
in some cases, there’s a reluctance to go
beyond simply providing customers with a
range of choices.
While a UK industry-wide survey by
Foodable Labs found that half of chefs
had added vegan options to their menu in
201811
, there is a definite sense that the
industry is responding to consumer demand
rather than taking the lead. Some definitely
don’t see it as their role to proactively
change diners’ behaviour.
Steve Holmes of Azzurri Group, whose Zizzi
brand has grown vegan dishes to 8% of all
main course sales, said:
THERE’S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT,
THE MEAT AND FISH DISHES
ARE MORE POPULAR. THERE
IS MORE WE SHOULD AND
COULD DO IN TERMS OF HOW
WE POSITION THINGS ON
THE MENU OR PRICING TO
ENCOURAGE PEOPLE TO GO
WITHOUT MEAT FOR ONE DAY.
THERE IS LESS MEAT ON THE MENU AND THAT’S A RESULT OF
CUSTOMER INFORMED MENU DEVELOPMENT RATHER THAN US
DECIDING WE WANT LESS MEAT ON THE MENU –
WE ARE FACILITATING A MOVEMENT
NOT DICTATING CHANGE.
- Nick Balfe, Chef Director,
Salon and Levan
- Steve Holmes, CEO, Azzurri Group
Raymond Blanc OBE, President of the SRA
and Chef Director of Belmond Le Manoir
aux Quat’Saisons, speaks for a number in
the industry when describing the balance
they are trying to strike between influencing
customers’ eating habits and offering them
what they want. He says, “This is a difficult
compromise as we are a service industry,
and ultimately a guest will choose what
they wish to eat”.
wagamama attributes a good deal of its
success increasing sales of its plant-based
dishes to engaging staff in the process and
hiring in outside expertise.
“We looked within, to our inspiring league
of team members, many of which are vegan.
Involving them in the menu process from
conception to delivery proved to be an
invaluable asset to us on this journey,” says
Emma Woods, the company’s CEO.

1716
17
While the SRA is not pushing a vegan
charter, the message is loud and clear that
menus need to be much less meaty. Will
Nicholson of FCRN speaks for his colleagues
in academia when he calls on chefs and
operators to play a more proactive role in
leading this change. He says:
MEAT HAS BECOME A BIGGER ISSUE
IN RECENT YEARS, BUT MANY ARE
ONLY PAYING LIP SERVICE TO THIS
AND “RESPONDING TO CUSTOMER
DEMAND” RATHER THAN
LEADING THE SHIFT.
PRESSURE FROM CUSTOMERS
WHO CARE WILL CHANGE THE
BEHAVIOUR OF RESTAURANTS
WHICH IN TURN HELPS EDUCATE
THE CUSTOMERS WHO DON’T
CURRENTLY CARE. THAT INCREASES
THE PRESSURE ON RESTAURANTS.
IT’S A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE.
Chefs need to be doing more to persuade
their carnivorous customers to try
something different by, as Professor Tim
Lang of City, University of London, puts it:
“making their less ‘meatified’ dishes simply
delicious”.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall agrees
wholeheartedly: “We shouldn’t be making
veg dishes just to keep vegetarian and
vegan customers happy. We should be
tempting the carnivores to give veg a try.”
As well as making veg-led dishes look and
taste delicious, chefs need to take time to
ensure they sound delicious too. In fact,
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says that
when it comes to creating new menus, he
spends more time on the language used to
describe plant-based dishes than almost
anything else.
While the language and make-up of menus
as well as creative techniques to replace
meat with veg are all effective ways of
reducing consumption, some are convinced
that these gentle nudges are insufficient
and that more drastic action is required.
Certainly, adding a salad here and a soup
there, will not suffice. Much greater action
is required to persuade punters of the
pleasure of plants.
An Oxford University report published in
October 201812
made the case for a tax on
meat to prevent 220,000 deaths and $40bn
a year. It would also reduce greenhouse
gas emissions by 110m tonnes a year,
the authors contend. Green MP Caroline
Lucas has offered her support, but, is a
lonely voice among politicians aware of the
potential backlash.
The SRA believes that immediate
collective, concerted and creative action by
foodservice on this issue negates the need
for taxation, for now.
For those in the industry anxious that they
won’t be able to fulfil the change required,
there are some words of encouragement
from Prof. Valentini that it is within their
grasp. He says:
In 2018 the World Resources Institute
(WRI) launched the Cool Food Pledge, a new
initiative designed to help operators meet
diners’ desire for more planet-friendly food,
while “slashing food-related greenhouse
gas emissions by 25% 2030”. The SRA fully
supports this initiative and its aims. We’ll
use our platform to align our members
and the wider industry with the Cool
Food Pledge, providing businesses with a
series of commitments complemented by
a programme of inspiration, insight and
support, backed through resources
and events.
TAXES ARE THE ‘PUSH’ BUT WE
ALSO NEED THE ‘PULL’, WHICH
IS TO MAKE LESS ‘MEATIFIED’
DISHES SIMPLY DELICIOUS!
EVEN REDUCING MEAT
CONSUMPTION BY A THIRD
WE CAN SAVE UP TO 50%
EMISSIONS. THUS IT IS
SOMETHING REALLY ACHIEVABLE!
- Professor Tim Lang, City, University of
London
Henry Dimbleby believes consumer demand
will continue to drive change. He says:
WHAT’S NEEDED TO ACCELERATE CHANGE

1918
There is a sense that some in the
industry have, perhaps understandably,
been too preoccupied with plastic in
2018 to think about food waste. While
many of the cold hard facts and stats
about food waste may not be new, they
don’t lose their chilling impact. Equally,
the economic benefits of keeping food
on the plate, are as clear and obvious as
they always have been. A renewed focus
on food waste is imperative in 2019.
1
2
3
4
5
30% of the food produced globally is wasted at
a cost of £770bn.13
The environmental cost of food waste in the UK
is 20m tonnes of CO214
, equivalent to the annual
emissions of all 3.5m cars in the whole of the
East of England.
One million tonnes of food is wasted across the
foodservice sector 15
, equivalent to one in six of
the eight billion meals served annually - enough
to fill the Shard more than 10 times. 75% of this
waste is avoidable and it costs the sector £2.5bn
a year or almost £20,000 a site.16
For restaurants the cost of avoidable food waste
on every plate averages 14p.17
For every £1 invested in reducing food waste
an average of £7 is saved.18
Despite food waste having been
highlighted as a serious issue in the
industry for at least a decade now, the
response remains less than optimal.
Some genuine barriers, like inconsistent
collection services and a lack of space
for separate bins continue to hamper
further progress.
- Ylva Johannesson, Head of Membership, the SRA
IGNORANCE IS NO LONGER A
LEGITIMATE EXCUSE. FAILURE TO
MEASURE, MONITOR, SET REDUCTION
TARGETS, REDISTRIBUTE SURPLUS OR
OFFER CUSTOMERS THE OPPORTUNITY
TO TAKE HOME LEFTOVERS LEAVES A BAD
SMELL HANGING OVER THE INDUSTRY.
1
2
3
4
5
6
Operators are using a combination of both tech
solutions and behaviour change to keep food out of the
bin. 78% of SRA sites use smart ordering systems and
inventory monitoring to prevent surplus and 91% train
staff in ways to avoid waste.
Although plate waste continues to account for about a
third of restaurant’s waste and more than 60% of food
waste costs, only 66% of sites offer customers doggy
boxes – consigning tonnes of leftover food to the bin
that could have made another meal.
50% more businesses redistributed surplus food
in 2018. That matches the national picture for
manufacturers, retailers and hospitality with nearly
£130 million worth of food saved from waste, thanks
to a 50% increase in redistribution.19
87% of SRA members actively monitor and measure
their food waste – with 25% using technology, like
Winnow, Lean Path or Chef’s Eye to give them
access to granular detail on what, when and how
they are wasting food. Businesses employing these
methods typically reduce their waste by an average
of 15%.
Only half of SRA members have targets in place
for further reducing their waste, emphasising
the need for more ambition across the industry
in tackling this issue.
10% of the SRA network of engaged operators
continue to dispose of food waste with their
general waste, something we aim to eliminate
in the next year.
More operators are
working with organisations
like FareShare, City
Harvest, Plan Zheroes and
Food Donation Connection
take surplus food to feed
people in need.
Operators like Olio, Karma
and Too Good to Go help
operators businesses
match delicious discounted
food with their customers
at the end of the day.
THIS STILL REPRESENTS
A FRACTION OF
THE POTENTIAL,
ILLUSTRATED MOST
EMPHATICALLY BY
NANDO’S WHO, IN 2018
REDISTRIBUTED
660,000 MEALS
VIA A NETWORK OF OVER
500 LOCAL
CHARITIES.
RIVER COTTAGE ACHIEVED
A 25% REDUCTION IN THIS WAY, WHILE
OXFORD BROOKES UNIVERSITY
WAS ABLE TO CUT PREP WASTE ALONE BY 25%.
Technology like
Winnow, Lean
Path or Chef’s
Eye make it easy
for businesses
to measure and
monitor their
food waste
precisely.
1/3 OF
FOOD
IS
WASTED
PRODUCED
GLOBALLY
AVERAGES A
COST OF 14P
FOR EVERY £1 INVESTED IN
REDUCING FOOD WASTE
AN AVERAGE OF £7 IS SAVED
FIVE REASONS WHY
SIX THINGS WE LEARNED
FOOD WASTE
AVOIDABLE
FOOD WASTE
ON EVERY PLATE

2120
VIEW FROM THE BOARDROOM & KITCHEN
Food waste can be a huge challenge
for large businesses running high volume
operations on a national scale. The potential
benefits though, are equally great.
In the last 18 months JD Wetherspoon
has set the template. Since embarking on
a review of its entire approach to food
waste at the end of 2017, the pub giant
has reduced waste by introducing smaller
portions of a number of menu favourites
and sending unwanted useable food to
FareShare. The company also switched
waste management company, so it could
send unavoidable waste for anaerobic
digestion. On top of these impressive
changes which helped it win the SRA’s
Waste No Food category at the Food Made
Good Awards 2018, CEO John Hutson
reports that Wetherspoons will be setting
itself further reduction targets for 2019.
Many operators report success in reducing
waste using both traditional training and
more sophisticated technological solutions.
Bill Toner of CH & Co: “We are showing our
chefs how to use more of the vegetable,
including the peelings, or as much of the
animal as possible and this has to become
instinctive and not task-driven.”
WE BELIEVE THAT CHEFS NEED
TO THINK DIFFERENTLY ABOUT
FOOD PREPARATION TO BRING
ABOUT CONSISTENT CHANGE
IN THIS AREA. BEHAVIOUR
CHANGE WILL ALWAYS
BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN
REDUCING FOOD WASTE
THAN THE CONSTANT
WEIGHING AND FILLING OUT
OF SPREAD SHEETS.
Even the peeling process can be a source
of innovation and a very useful bi-product.
The Bay Fish and Chips in Stonehaven sends
regular deliveries to a local pig farmer of 50
litres of starch filtered off the water used
for cleaning its potatoes.
At River Cottage, where waste levels were
already well managed, the introduction
of smart scales helped drive them down
further.
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall reports: “We’ve
made good progress on waste with some
help from Winnow. We’ve reduced our food
waste by 25-33%. But it gets to the point
where you’ve done that, you’re using an
appropriate amount of surplus in specials
and it’s hard to know how you can bring it
down even further.”
CLOSE WORKING RELATIONSHIPS
WITH PRODUCERS CAN
BE AN EFFECTIVE WAY OF
INSPIRING KITCHEN TEAMS
TO VALUE FOOD MORE AND
CONSEQUENTLY WASTE LESS. IT
CAN ALSO ENCOURAGE CREATIVE
PARTNERSHIPS BETWEEN
GROWER AND CHEF. CATERER
VACHERIN USED 7,000KG OF
WHAT IT CALLS I’MPERFECT
FRUIT AND VEG.
MAKING A VIRTUE OF
SURPLUS IS ANOTHER
VALUABLE AND INCREASINGLY
MAINSTREAM METHOD OF
REDUCING WASTE, WHETHER
AS A WHOLE ‘SCRATCH’ MENU
AS PRACTISED BY CHEFS
LIKE SKYE GYNGELL, OR IN
THE SHAPE OF FREE SOUP
MADE FROM VEG WASTE AND
SERVED WITH EVERY MEAL AT
THE OLD MARKET ASSEMBLY
IN BRISTOL.

2322
Despite a decade or more of focus on food
waste reduction and readily available advice
and support, there is still a lot to be done to
up-skill and engage the workforce further in
smart ways to keep waste to a minimum.
Bill Toner of CH&CO said:
Ensuring chefs confront food waste head-
on, on a daily basis is one of the solutions
offered up by our chefs. Joel Braham, of The
Good Egg with two sites in London, reports
that a simple logistical move has helped his
teams get to grips with the issue.
THE ONGOING TRAINING OF
OUR CHEFS IS HAVING A GREAT
IMPACT. IT’S A WORK IN PROGRESS
BUT GIVING THEM THE SKILLS
AND CONFIDENCE TO USE PRODUCE
IN DIFFERENT WAYS IS MAKING
A REAL DIFFERENCE. EDUCATION
OF CONSUMERS WILL HELP
TURN AROUND RESISTANCE TO
NEW DISHES THAT PERHAPS
USE CUTS OF MEAT THEY WOULD
INSTINCTIVELY THROW AWAY,
FOR EXAMPLE.
WE GET OUR CHEFS TO WORK
WITH A PLASTIC TUB NEXT TO
THEM, SO THEY HAVE TO FOCUS ON
MINIMISING AS THEY WOULDN’T
WANT A BUCKETFUL OF WASTE
SITTING RIGHT NEXT TO THEM.
The industry should also capitalise on
the good start it’s made to embrace
redistribution of surplus food. JD
Wetherspoon is an excellent example of a
business that linked up with one of the best-
known redistribution charities, FareShare,
in 2018. Within a few months, surplus or
blemished food was being sent directly from
its central distribution centre to feed 4,000
people via 100 charities. Likewise, Azzurri
Group reports having provided 24 tonnes of
surplus food to FareShare, providing more
than 57,000 meals.
The Government has recognised the
potential this solution offers and has
appointed a Food Waste Champion, Ben
Elliot, whose brief includes facilitating
increased redistribution from retail and
foodservice.
Asked to identify the most stubborn
barriers, the CEO of one of Britain’s best-
known restaurant groups, which has
increased the number of its sites recycling
food waste from 30% to 92.6% of its
managed sites, said: “LANDLORDS. Where
we operate within the constraints of a
landlord site it is not always possible to
have full control of our waste segregation.”
The SRA is further stepping up its work with
some of central London’s largest landlords,
helping them engage with their restaurant
tenants and customers, providing advice,
support and encouragement as well as
extending consolidated collections.
When it comes to the proper disposal of
unavoidable food waste, operators need
all the help they can get from the waste
management industry. The waste collection
postcode lottery is expected to end as
food waste collections become compulsory
across England and Wales thanks to
the Government’s Resources and Waste
Strategy, published in December 2018.
Setting further targets, as a number of our
interviewees said their businesses would
be doing in 2019, is key. As the old saying
goes: “If it ain’t measured it won’t get
monitored.”
In September 2018 WRAP published its
Food Waste Reduction Roadmap20
designed
to drive down the UK’s £20bn food waste
bill, with 90 organisations agreeing to the
- Joel Braham, The Good Egg
Target – Measure – Act approach. All of
them have agreed to report on food waste
by September 2019. Foodservice sign-ups
are noticeable by their absence, with just 11
having made the commitment.
Widespread adoption of Target, Measure,
Act is vital to achieve national policy
objectives and targets on food waste
reduction, including Courtauld 2025 and the
Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 12.3.
The SRA fully endorses WRAP’s Food Waste
Roadmap and is committed to supporting
its goal to reduce food waste across the
industry by 25% by 2025. This would
reduce carbon emission by 900,000 tonnes
a year - equivalent to grounding more
than 2,000 London to New York return
flights. We’ll drive action by enabling more
foodservice businesses, especially smaller
ones, to report into Courtauld, supported
by a programme of inspiration, insight and
support through content and events.

25
24
You’d need to have been hanging out with polar bears
in the Arctic Circle to have missed the blanket media
coverage of single-use plastic in 2018. Such was the
attention that ‘single-use’ was named word of the year.
It’s up to us to ensure we look back at that accolade
as a positive thing and that its legacy is a concerted,
considered and comprehensive pivot away from single-
use plastic.
25
1
2
3
4
5
Many SRA members had already ditched
plastic straws before the broadcast of Blue
Planet II. More did so in 2018, removing
hundreds of millions from circulation and
some then went on to find imaginative
ways to reduce their single-use plastic still
further. These findings though do reveal
that the industry’s years of reliance on this
most versatile of products is proving hard
to break. While it’s no longer acceptable to
claim a lack of knowledge of ways to reduce
food waste, foodservice professionals can
point to a far more complicated landscape
when it comes to sourcing sustainable,
affordable alternatives to single-use plastic
and ensuring their responsible disposal.
If 2018 was a year of awakening for the
industry, in 2019 we need to build on
this increased awareness and empower
operators with the knowledge and tools
to accelerate the move towards a viable
circular economy.
90% of SRA members still offer some
disposable items including: cups, cutlery,
napkins, boxes or wrapping.
A third of member businesses (32%) continue
to offer some takeaway packaging that is not
recyclable, reusable or compostable.
SRA members are less conscientious when
it comes to measuring and monitoring their
non-food waste (67%), as compared with food
waste (87%). Worryingly, there was a fall in
the number measuring their general waste in
the last 12 months too – down from 80%.
73% of supplier packaging was reused or
recycled in 2018 – up from 61%. However,
this still means more than a quarter is going
into general waste.
The move away from bottled water (whether
plastic or not) remains slow with 72% of
members continuing to serve it in 2018, down
just 6% from 78% in 2017.
WE ONLY RECYCLE
HALF THE BOTTLES
WE USE
LESS THAN
1% OF COFFEE
CUPS ARE
RECYCLED
72%
OF MEMBERS
STILL SERVED
BOTTLED WATER
73% OF
SUPPLIER
PACKAGING
WAS REUSED
OR RECYCLED
BY 2030
THERE WILL BE MORE PLASTIC
THAN MARINE LIFE IN
THE OCEAN
We recycle only half of those bottles.
We recycle less than 1% of the coffee cups.21
WWF predicts that by 2030 the volume of
plastic in our oceans will outweigh
marine life.22
British beaches are littered with 5,000
items of plastic per mile.23
1
2
3
4
90%
STILL OFFER
DISPOSABLES
FIVE REASONS WHY
SIX THINGS WE LEARNED
INSIGHTS FROM THE INDUSTRYSINGLE-USE PLASTIC
Each year, it’s estimated, we’ve been using 4.7bn
plastic straws, 316m plastic stirrers, 7.7bn plastic
bottles and 2.5bn coffee cups.

26
27
While operators should be congratulated
for acting quickly to remove plastic straws,
many of the business leaders we spoke to
are the first to acknowledge this is the tip
of the iceberg and they need to do more
and go further. Many single-use items are
proving more difficult to ditch, although
some of our interviewees recognise that
failing to act on plastic may soon prove
costlier than switching to alternative
materials.
Steve Holmes of Azzurri Group sums it up:
Until April 2018, it appeared the thin
plastic lining in the 2.5bn takeaway
coffee cups consumed annually in the UK,
was a permanent barrier to mainstream
recycling. Then, Costa announced it was
committing to recycling 100m cups a year
in a scheme which would see retailers pay
a £70 supplement for every tonne of cups
collected.
Jason Cotta, Costa’s Managing Director for
UK & Ireland, explained: “Within the first
six months of the Valpak Scheme, over 41
million cups were recovered for recycling.
Along with over 2000 Costa stores collecting
coffee cups for recycling, new cup recycling
points are growing across the country with
consumers now able to dispose of their
takeaway cups at several airports, shopping
centres, universities, colleges and offices up
and down the country.” He also confirmed
that in December Caffé Nero, Greggs,
McDonald’s and Pret A Manger had joined
the scheme.
Many operators have introduced measures
to avoid the cup recycling issue at source,
encouraging their customers not to order
their drink in a disposable cup. Since
introducing a 35p discount, Leon witnessed
a 755% increase in customers using their
own cups. Lakeside at University of Surrey
now serves 35% of its hot drinks in reusable
cups after imposing a charge on disposables.
Some operators opted to take the initiative
– Sheffield Hallam University spent £8,000
on reusable cups for 4,000 students and
charges 20p for disposable cups in its bid to
use 100,000 less disposable cups.
And if takeaway cups pose a challenge to
the industry, that is dwarfed by the scale
of packaging used by the booming delivery
market – now worth more than £8bn a
year and described by one of our CEOs as
the “hardest of the single-use plastics to
deal with”.
STRAWS WERE EASY – WE WERE
ABLE TO JUST REMOVE THEM. BUT
PLASTIC BOTTLES ARE REALLY
TOUGH. IN COCO DI MAMA WE
HAVE FREE FILTERED WATER AND
PEOPLE ARE ABLE TO REFILL THEIR
BOTTLES, BUT DUE TO CUSTOMER
DEMAND WE CURRENTLY STILL HAVE
PLASTIC BOTTLES TOO. HOWEVER,
I THINK THE TIME IS COMING WHEN
WE WILL BE ABLE TO JUST STOP
SELLING THEM. IT’S ABOUT TIMING
AND FINDING THE BALANCE –
JUDGING WHEN THE UPSIDE OF
DOING GOOD THINGS ALSO WORKS
COMMERCIALLY.
Having removed single-use plastic items from
its partner shop, introduced a customer opt-out
for plastics with their order, and trialled sauce
sachets made from seaweed, Just Eat is now
looking to go further to tackle the up to 500m
plastic boxes its customers order annually.
Robin Clark, Business Partnerships Director
of Just Eat UK, says: “We know that even if
the plastic box is reused six times, it may
still eventually end up in landfill. So, we are
committed to finding an alternative. Any
alternative has to be just as effective in
keeping food properly sealed, but through our
investment in research and development, we
hope we will find a more environmentally-
friendly solution.”
Skye Gyngell shone a light on the scale of
clingfilm used in foodservice kitchens when
she reported that her restaurant Spring was
using enough to stretch from London to
Istanbul every year. A combination of beeswax
wrapping and metal pans with lids have now
totally replaced clingfilm.
Nicholas Balfe is doing something similar at
Salon and Levan while at The Good Egg’s two
sites in London’s Soho and Stoke Newington,
Joel Braham is delighted to have persuaded
his suppliers to stop wrapping individual
cucumbers and aubergines and weaned his
kitchen team off vacuum packing.
VIEW FROM THE BOARDROOM AND KITCHEN

2928
Collaboration between all stakeholders
stands out as the key facilitator for a timely
and deep-rooted move away from a reliance
on unnecessary single-use plastic.
The CEO of one of Britain’s best-known
restaurant groups said:
This is a view echoed by Karen Lynch,
CEO of Belu. “2019 must be the year when
we move from everyone for themselves
to collaborating around the key issues.
The first step is the continued raising of
awareness, but most crucially this is about
a more holistic understanding. We’ll only
get there when we move from that desire
to quickly tick a box and focus on real steps
to a truly circular economy that recognises
the reality that whilst we can reduce single
use, we have to have sustainable businesses
left at the end of these improvements,
and that you have to fully understand the
consequences of change.”
Karen Lynch is equally adamant that
operators resist knee-jerk reactions with
undesirable, unintended consequences,
identifying “things like using bio plastics
which aren’t contained and processed and
instead enter into the mainstream recycling
stream, or lower footprint products such
as recycled plastic being replaced with
aluminium, resulting in a C02 emissions
increase understood to be up to 3-4 times
that of the product replaced.”
YOU NEED PACKAGING PRODUCERS,
PRODUCT DESIGNERS, WASTE
COLLECTION AND UK WASTE AND
RECYCLING INFRASTRUCTURE
TO ALL ALIGN. WITHOUT CROSS
SECTOR COLLABORATION IT
IS UNLIKELY THAT THE KEY
SUSTAINABILITY CHALLENGES OF
OUR TIME WILL BE OVERCOME.
WE CAN SOURCE COMPOSTABLE
ALTERNATIVES, BUT IF THE WASTE
STREAMS WHERE WE OPERATE
ARE NOT ABLE TO PROCESS
THE PRODUCT AND CLOSE THE
SUSTAINABILITY LOOP, WE’RE
BACK TO SQUARE ONE. LACK
OF CONSISTENCY BETWEEN
RECYCLING IN THE HOME AND
THE HIGH STREET AND ACROSS
REGIONS, CAUSES CONFUSION AND
INCORRECT RECYCLING PRACTICES.
Inconsistencies in the UK’s recycling
infrastructure remain a major barrier to
change and continue to prevent some of the
most willing operators from disposing of
their plastic alternatives responsibly.
The Government, in its Resources and
Waste Strategy has pledged to address this
issue, having announced a ban on straws
and stirrers and a bottle return scheme,
while pulling back from imposing a tax on
disposable cups or ‘latte levy’. The EU is
proposing a ban on plastic cutlery, plates
and cups from 2021.
While SRA members have a strong record
on getting suppliers to reduce and reuse
packaging, it remains a challenge for the
wider industry.
John Hutson of Wetherspoons, says:
“Suppliers are being challenged to reduce
the amount of unnecessary packaging
being used. A plastics and packaging audit
will commence in early 2019 and help to
identify where the biggest reductions can be
made. We are currently trialling the removal
of single use plastics from all kitchens or,
where this is not possible, replacement with
multi use vessels.”
The delivery sector needs to build on the
start the major operators like Just Eat have
made, helping their customers make good
choices when they order food. Bristol-based
restaurant group Thali, with its takeaway
tiffin tins has developed a successful model
for reusable containers.
While a number of chefs, like Nick Balfe
at Salon and Levan, are using a version of
beeswax wrap instead of the ubiquitous
clingfilm, the usefulness and practicality of
products like this is still unproven at scale.
There’s still plenty of room for innovation
on this issue.
“Robust alternative solutions are not always
available in adequate volumes to deliver
products safely and with a consistent
quality. Technological developments and
saleability to improve the economics are
required,” says John Hutson.
That’s why the SRA published its
Unwrapping Plastic toolkit in June 2018,
and, with more than 600 downloads, it has
proved a very popular resource, providing
businesses with the information they need
to make good decisions about alternatives
to single-use plastic.
The SRA represents its members on the
Plastics Pact. In 2019, we will look to
galvanise our broad base of foodservice
members and the wider industry,
accelerating change in order to meet
these targets as effectively and quickly
as possible with a bundle of practical and
insightful resources and inspirational events.
1
2
UK PLASTIC PACT
3
4
100% of plastic packaging
must be reusable, recyclable or
compostable.
70% of plastic packaging must
be effectively recycled or
composted.
30% of the content of plastic
packaging must be recycled – or
face taxation.
100% of packaging must not be
single use.
The SRA is a member of the Plastics
Pact, launched in April 2018 to change
the way retail and foodservice takes
makes and disposes of plastic to
instead create a circular economy for
plastics.
The Pact has set four targets to reach
by 2025:

30
31
RISE TO THE CHALLENGE
The review of SRA members’ sustainability
activity in 2018 reveals widespread
progress. There is real encouragement to be
found on a number of the key issues. Our
interviews with leaders of some of the UK’s
best-known foodservice businesses also
demonstrate a commitment and resolve to
go further in 2019.
Costa’s national cup recycling scheme,
Wetherspoon’s business-wide food waste
reduction programme and Azzurri Group’s
upscaling of its plant-based offering are
three major advances.
There remains though, little evidence of
significant action on the key requirements
for tackling climate change. Chefs, as
Nick Balfe puts it, “are uniquely placed to
shape and influence food trends.” What
we eat in restaurants makes its way onto
shop shelves and millions of domestic
kitchens and influences how we as a culture
approach our food.
The ‘final call’ from the IPCC for a drastic
reduction in greenhouse gas emissions
spells the end for tinkering at the edges.
Rather than pass the buck for the wholesale
changes required to meet these challenging
environmental targets, the industry needs
to embrace the monumental system change
required to guarantee a better food future.
By working together, collaborating and
inspiring each other to do more and go
further, we can encourage a race to the top.
Greater pressure from investors for
companies to demonstrate their focus on
the big issues, allied with continued growth
in consumer concern requires sustainability
to become a permanent menu item for all
foodservice businesses.
We’ve seen progress but it’s not fast
enough. While we recognise that these are
challenging times for restaurants, we’re
calling on the industry to take the lead on
these urgent issues.
Pressure from customers who care will
change restaurants’ behaviour. The more
that diners vote with their forks, the more
this helps educate those customers that
didn’t previously care, further increasing
the pressure on restaurants and creating a
virtuous circle.
When the SRA was first imagined, nearly
a decade ago, many of the big issues
remained relatively fringe. The burger
bonanza was in full-swing, food waste
in foodservice kitchens was still a dirty
secret and David Attenborough had not yet
discovered plastic-eating turtles.
As we hope this report makes crystal clear,
we now find ourselves in a unique moment
when the planet, professors and the public
are all telling us to act now. Science, trend
data and consumer opinion are all pointing
in the same direction. There are three
issues that require urgent action, three
issues which, if tackled effectively and
collectively by the whole foodservice sector,
can dramatically reduce the threat to the
future of the planet and its ever-growing
population, and increase the prosperity of
individual restaurants.
If we embrace the opportunity to
collaborate on reducing meat, food waste
and single-use plastic, the potential prize
is huge. Not only are these three issues
the most pressing for the planet, but they
can help businesses save money and
drive customer loyalty as they align with
consumers’ priorities. By making further
positive changes towards more sustainable
menus, the industry will create a whole
new cohort of conscious consumers who
themselves will demand more.
During 2019, the SRA will host a series of
events and publish a set of informative and
practical resources all designed to support
operators to meet ambitious but attainable
targets on these three issues. We’ll also
facilitate further collaboration between
kitchen, boardroom, policymakers, chefs
and suppliers as we embark on the tastiest
challenge on the planet.
As stated clearly at the beginning of this
report, without fixing food we can’t fix
climate change. To bastardise a famous
quotation,
IT’S TIME TO ASK
NOT WHAT FOOD
CAN DO FOR YOU
BUT WHAT YOU
CAN DO FOR FOOD.
THAT MEANS EVERY FOODSERVICE BUSINESS IN THE UK ACCEPTING
OUR CHALLENGE TO IMPLEMENT AND ACHIEVE THE TARGETS OUTLINED
IN THIS REPORT TO REDUCE THE IMPACT OF THE MEALS THEY SERVE BY
REDUCING THE VOLUME OF:
• MEAT ON THE MENU
• FOOD IN THE BIN
• SINGLE-USE PLASTIC AND PACKAGING
thesra.org/membership
Find out how the
Food Made Good
community works
together to create
impactful change:
@the_SRA
@foodmadegood
JOIN US!
Butternut squash curry
No. 11 Pimlico Road,
One Planet Plate

32
1
http://www.wrap.org.uk/content/the-uk-plastics-pact
2
https://www.wri.org/our-work/project/cool-food-pledge
3
An IPCC special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5C
above pre-industrial levels and related global greenhouse gas
emission pathways, in the context of strengthening the global
response to the threat of climate change, sustainable development,
and efforts to eradicate poverty.
https://www.ipcc.ch/sr15/
4
Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs December
2018
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/resources-and-waste-
strategy-for-england
5
The EAT-Lancet Commission on Food, Planet, Health
Can we feed a future population of 10 billion people a healthy diet
within planetary boundaries?
https://eatforum.org/eat-lancet-commission/
6
Growing the good: The Case for low-carbon transition in the food
sector. Changing Markets Foundation. 2018
https://changingmarkets.org/portfolio/growing-the-good/
7
Waitrose Food and Drink Report 2018-19 – The era of the mindful
consumer
https://www.waitrose.com/content/dam/waitrose/Inspiration/
Waitrose%20&%20Partners%20Food%20and%20Drink%20Report%20
2018.pdf
8
Kantar Worldpanel Usage panel – January 2018
https://uk.kantar.com/consumer/shoppers/2018/is-2018-the-year-
brits-go-vegan/
9
Plant-based diet 2018 – Just Eat
https://www.just-eat.ie/blog/plant-based-diet-2018/
10
Menus with vegetarian sections can lead customers to eat more
meat. Linda Bacon London School of Economics, 2017
http://www.lse.ac.uk/News/Latest-news-from-LSE/2018/03-
March-2018/Menus-with-vegetarian-sections-can-lead-customers-to-
eat-more-meat
11
https://www.foodabletv.com/blog/plant-based-food-influencers-
want-more-delivery-options
12
http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2018-11-06-tax-meat-could-offset-
health-costs
13
United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation
http://www.fao.org/save-food/resources/keyfindings/en/
14
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REFERENCES
Roast spiced brassicas with split pea puree
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage
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